In May 2010, we went to Costa Rica for a 10 day vacation with a group of friends. Our itinerary included San Jose, Arenal Volcano, Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Manuel Antonio National Park. We explored San Jose for a day then headed off to Arenal Volcano. The drive to the Arenal Observatory Lodge from San Jose seemed like it took 5 hours.
The Arenal Observatory Lodge is about 1.7 km from the volcano. It was built so the Smithsonian could observe the volcano’s activity after the volcano’s major eruption in 1968. Luckily for us, it’s now a hotel. We stood on the deck at the lodge marveling at the snap, crackle, and pop of the volcano. It was still active at that time. For most of our visit, the top of the cone was shrouded in a cloud so you couldn’t see any molten lava spewing from the cone. On the grounds of the Observatory Lodge, we were impressed by the number of brightly colored birds flying around. Our tour van picked us up later that afternoon and stopped at an observation point closer to the volcano. We saw several pairs of parrots high up in a tree and a white-throated magpie-jay (it looked like a blue jay the size of a magpie).
We saw our first toucan in a tree on the way to Tabacon Hot Springs. We soaked in the hot springs for a while then had dinner and headed back to the Arenal Observatory Lodge for the night. About 3AM, I woke up to much louder volcanic activity but the fog was so thick, we couldn’t see the red streaks of lava. Even so, it was still very exciting (and a little crazy) to be that close to an active volcano.
In the morning, a few of us went for a hike to a nearby waterfall where we saw a green heron, some black beetles with yellow spots, and what looked like a garden snake in the grass. Our van picked us up after breakfast and drove us to the Arenal Hanging Bridges Park. During our guided tour, we saw a pit viper (much smaller than expected), a couple bluejeans frogs (very tiny with vibrant red bodies and blue hind legs), a tarantula, a masked tree frog, and leaf-cutter ants. We saw the leaf-cutter ants everywhere we went in Costa Rica. They were very impressive to watch as marched in a semi-straight line carrying huge chunks of leaves much larger than themselves. But I digress, back to the Hanging Bridges.
The paths between bridges were sometimes 4-5 feet down a steep slope so that one side of the path was a dirt wall. I didn’t notice the holes in the dirt wall until our guide started looking in them with his flashlight. When he finds what he’s looking for, he tells us there’s a tarantula in the hole. He said, “go ahead, take a look. It’s okay, it’s sleeping.” So not only did I look but I captured this photo.
Yes, I’m the one paralyzed by fear of the little jumpy spiders at home but for some reason in Costa Rica I’m okay photographing large spiders in holes.
After the hanging bridges, our van dropped us off at Lake Arenal were we boarded a boat and headed across the lake towards Monteverde. During the boat ride we saw anhingas, cormorants, and other water fowl. As we approached the other side of the lake we saw cattle grazing near the shore. Our next tour guides drove us to the town of Santa Elena in Monteverde where we checked into Hotel Claro De Luna for the night. In the morning, we went zip-lining at Selvatura Park and then visited their hummingbird garden.
On our drive from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio we saw a Jabiro Stork standing in a field, huge crocodiles in a river, and several pairs of scarlet macaws flying over the river. We checked into the Tulemar Resort north of Manuel Antonio. In the morning our friends staged a coup and insisted on a day of relaxation. We hung out on the verandah in the morning where we watched capuchin monkeys climb across the rooftops of the condos below us. Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the beach. The resort staff pointed out a two toed sloth sleeping in a tree, an iguana basking in the sun, red and blue crabs just inside the forest from the beach, and more capuchin monkeys.
When we returned from the beach everyone returned to their rooms to shower and change. My partner in crime and I placed a blue plastic spider on the stairs between two rooms. When we returned from our showers, we found our friends had discovered the spider. One friend had captured it by placing a drinking glass over it. Another friend was trying to identify it in the wildlife guide book. They weren’t sure if it was endangered so they didn’t want to squash it. A third friend was calling the front desk to have someone come remove it. Our forth friend was taking photos. How often do you have a chance to see a rare blue spider? When they saw us coming up the stairs, they very excitedly told us what they found.
My partner in crime said I can’t believe you are afraid of a little spider then lifted the glass in one hand and flung the spider at them with the other. Needless to say there were many shrieks and people scattered in all directions. Every time we think of this prank, it makes us laugh uncontrollably. Luckily, our friends still talk to us.